Studioportret van een man met snor en bril c. 1863 - 1866

This studio portrait of a man with a mustache and glasses was created by Abdullah Frères sometime in the late 19th century. The photograph is a window into the burgeoning culture of commercial photography and its relationship to class and self-representation. In the late 1800s, photography studios emerged as important sites of social ritual, where individuals could perform their identities for posterity. This particular image, with its formal composition and the sitter's respectable attire, reflects the values of the rising middle class in Europe at the time. The subject's confident gaze and carefully cultivated appearance speak to a desire for social mobility and respectability. To fully appreciate the photograph, archival research into the history of photography studios such as that of Abdullah Frères and the social history of the middle class in the 19th century would be invaluable. The meaning of such an artwork is always contingent on its specific social and institutional context.